As progress is made in science and technology, information devices of all kinds are continuously evolving. This is especially true of the various types of display apparatus or touch display apparatus, which are applied in all sorts of electronic devices, such as mobile phones, flat-screen computers, ultrabooks and e-books. Both the display apparatus and the touch layer thereof are formed by a matrix circuit substrate.
In general, a matrix circuit substrate has electrodes distributed in a crisscross arrangement, and is electrically connected to a drive circuit board via a flexible printed circuit (flexible print circuit, FPC), and also connected to an external control chip. In the case of display apparatus, a connection with an external control chip via a flexible printed circuit allows the emission of light by each pixel of the display panel to be controlled in order to display a picture. Moreover, in the case of touch display apparatus, in addition to the requirement to connect the matrix circuit substrate of the display panel electrically to a drive circuit via a flexible printed circuit, the matrix circuit substrate of the touch layer must similarly be electrically connected to another flexible printed circuit, and similarly connected to an external control chip via this flexible printed circuit, in order to interact with the electrodes of the electrode layer, which react to the panel being touched by a user.
However, a drive circuit board has a definite volume, and the way in which it is configured is the main factor affecting the volume of the display apparatus and display panel. In the prior art, a drive circuit board is disposed at the back of the display panel, and the electrodes are connected electrically to the drive circuit board by a flexible printed circuit, in order to reduce the space occupied by the display apparatus as a whole. However, in the prior art, a space must be left around the periphery of the matrix circuit substrate for outer lead bonding (OLB); in other words, the crisscrossing electrodes on the matrix circuit substrate each extend and are brought together in the outer lead bonding space, in order to be connected electrically to the flexible printed circuit.
However, the space left around the periphery of the matrix circuit substrate for outer lead bonding in turn increases the width of the rim of the display apparatus, with the result that the display apparatus gives the visual impression of not being sufficiently compact and aesthetically pleasing. Moreover, a display panel and a touch panel each require a flexible printed circuit, so a touch display apparatus will have an increased volume. Furthermore, today's users are demanding that display devices or touch display devices are ever lighter and thinner.
Thus, it remains a challenge to provide a matrix circuit substrate and display apparatus which can have a narrower rim region by virtue of novel structural design, so as to form a lighter and thinner structure.